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Ignatieff threatens June election

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is serving notice of an election as early as June if the Conservative government doesn't make some immediate changes to the employment insurance system in Canada.

Michael Ignatieff delivers his opening remarks at party's convention in Vancouver, April 30, 2009. The Liberal leader is leaving the door open to a June election. (CP PHOTO)

By Susan DelacourtOttawa Bureau

Sun., May 3, 2009

VANCOUVER–Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is serving notice of an election as early as June if the Conservative government doesn't make some immediate changes to the employment insurance system in Canada.

Talking to reporters at the close of the convention that confirmed him as Liberal leader, Ignatieff said today that he's told his party to have an election platform ready to go by June.

"I'm trying to protect these unemployed workers across the country who badly need help and if the government will work with me, we can get it done," Ignatieff said. "If they won't, we'll have to have an election."

Liberals, he said, are in favour of an immediate, "urgent" change that would make people eligible for EI benefits if they've worked 360 hours in the previous 52 weeks – regardless of where they live. The current system, Ignatieff said, is a complicated tangle of 54 different eligibility requirements, depending on local regions and unemployment rates.

"This is an urgent measure," Ignatieff said. "We're thinking that something in the range of 360 (hours). That's a measure proposed by many of the groups who've studied this issue carefully and as a temporary measure, we think it makes sense."

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He added though, that even when the economic crisis is over, Liberals will still be advocating for one, common national EI standard. And he would like an all-party committee of the Commons to take an overall look at improving the whole system.

"It strikes Canadians as unfair that if you pay into the thing, your eligibility depends on where you live," he said.

Ignatieff continues to say that he doesn't want an election, and that he doesn't want to keep threatening one, but he is clearly leaving the door open to a June election, which some partisans would favour as Liberals seem to be rising in recent polls and fund-raising reports.

A June election also suits Liberals who fear that Conservatives may use the summer to raise money and launch a negative-ad war against Ignatieff, as they did with his predecessor, Stephane Dion.

Ignatieff doesn't have any plans to do a big public release of the election platform in June, he said. He just wants his party to have it ready in case.

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